Destination Dissertation: A Traveler's Guide to a Done Dissertation

List Price: $25.95 Discount Price: $22.85

Customer Reviews:

Get it DONE and get on with your life [Posted on 2008-01-01]
With so many dissertation guides available, it's tough to know which one to pick. The unique value of Destination Dissertation lies in its suggestions for overcoming real-world road blocks in the journey. Foss and Waters provide concrete tips and actual examples for dealing with common problems like an out-of-control lit review, making sense of mounds of data, negotiating with advisors and committee members, slow and painful writing, and plain old boredom. This book keeps the reader's focus on a manageable plan for breaking down tasks and moving forward. Highly recommended for graduate students in the thesis or dissertation process who want to get it DONE and get on with their lives.

sure to become a classic [Posted on 2008-07-12]
Foss and Waters have written a book that seems destined to become a classic about how to finish a dissertation in a timely manner. I can't even begin to say how helpful this book has been to me during the writing process. Unlike other "how-to" dissertation guides that seem to privilege study skills and research techniques, Foss and Waters go over the nuts-and-bolts of writing. My writing output has literally tripled since reading this book. Destination Dissertation is a must-have for any serious graduate student.

This book got me from "impossible" to "done" [Posted on 2008-09-07]
This book actually changed my life. I am a doctoral student and I was stalled in the work of my dissertation due to some pretty serious life issues and I thought I was genuinely never going to be able to finish. I literally had hit a wall. I bought this book, feeling like this was a last resort, and decided to just surrender to their system. Why not just try? Their method detailed in the data collection and analysis chapter with the envelopes and labels is worth the price of the book. It led me step by step from a place of confusion to where I am now. And where I am now is on the verge of meeting with my committee for my defense. I am stunned. I went from "I have no idea how I'm going to do this" to "I'm done" in a matter of two months. It was this book. That's all I can say.

Best Book on Completing the Dissertation!! [Posted on 2008-10-21]
After reading Sonja Foss and William Waters's amazing book,I was re-energized by their clarity, energy, and road map metaphor they propose. I was so inspired by their approach, I decided to participate in their very successful Scholars Retreat (aka as Dissertation Boot Camp). It was as good, if not better than the book. After consulting with numerous dissertation writing texts and participating in various writing group sessions for graduate students and Assistant Faculty, I found Foss and Waters approach to be the most helpful. Their strategy gets to the heart of writing and finishing a dissertation. And if you're also a mentor seeking to work with undergraduate and/or graduate students with their research projects, this text will offer invaluable information on research and writing from multiple stages, ranging from initial conception of the project, to writing a proposal, coding data (which can include literature, ethnography, etc.), to writing successful chapters. And this advise is most beneficial to students (or any serious researcher), as well as lay professionals working on a book. While the book is surely intended for graduate students working on their dissertations, it will be helpful to other researchers and writers, and the numerous Professors and writing tutors committed to being good mentors.

Overall, this is the best book on completing the dissertation. And if you can, I strongly recommend participating in the Scholars Retreat.

We have a winner! [Posted on 2008-11-04]
I was fortunate to attend a workshop where Sonja and William highlighted several techniques presented in the book. I bought this book several months ago and it is not only helping me get through the dissertation, but has been an extremely helpful guide for writing articles for publication. It is easy to follow and the checklist for completing the dissertation process is very helpful. I have found myself picking up this book at various stages in the writing process and feel less intimidated in completing the literature review. A must-have book for doctoral students! It's a winner!

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